This was a great module, and the problem I have lies not with it, but with the way it sets up the sequel. I love the idea of having to be subtle. And I love the idea of it having repercussions if we aren't.

In home games.

In Society play, however, you will often find yourself at a table where no one has any non-combat skills. At which point, having everyone make skill checks they are destined to fail every time they do everything is ... irksome.

Look, there's no way to balance a party in Society play. We show up with the characters we have, we play the adventure we signed up for, and if it requires a set of skills that nobody has--or it requires EVERYBODY to have skills--we're just out of luck. Which is unfortunate because it doesn't account for the player base of PFS (at least based on my experience), and it certainly doesn't fit the roleplaying aspect of the world ... unless the venture captain in charge of this assignment INTENTIONALLY picked the worst possible team to send on this mission?

Point of view: GM 5 times.

An adventure in an unfriendly town which forces players to role-play as well as combat. A nice mechanic that simulates how much "heat" they are attracting works well and contributes to the atmosphere.

Some investigation and negotiation as well as measured violence required to pull together several different threads (in any order) to successfully complete the mission. A couple of bar scenes should leave most players feeling right at home ;-)

Not difficult to prep or run and gives a sandbox feel with atmosphere. A good beginner GM scenario.

Not one for you if you just want to cause mayhem. Other than that a nicely rounded scenario.

Point of view: Player and GM who prepped but didn't run for players.

I agree with other reviewers that the sandbox part of it lacked what I think would make this a "5 star" dynamic reaction. Instead of just being able to do each encounter that the PC's desire. Have some kind of dynamic shift based on what order they did them. That would make this great

The combats were average, and only became interesting when a GM used an unorthodox tactic, but otherwise would be forgettable.

The roleplay points were a huge saving grace to this encounter. I really enjoyed them.

Bloodcove has some decent roleplay in it, but the combat encounters are very average. This is a 3 star scenario with an average GM, and a 4 star with a good GM that can really bring it to life.

The sandbox nature of this scenario is vastly overestimated; to me it was the same as picking door number 1, 2, or 3. The reason it wasn’t completely sandbox is that you just want to get in and get out of Bloodcove. In real life, we have only 5 hours to finish the scenario. In the game, roaming around the city attracts unwanted attention. So it's not sandbox at all, you go from point A, to B, to C.

I wish the scenario emphasized the fact that the PCs are likely not Mwangi (black) and they don't speak Polygot. That makes things much more challenging and allows for interesting situations (and humor). More importantly, it allows PCs with language, disguise, and illusion spells to shine.

The awareness system (which is really a 4E skill challenge) was interesting and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again in the future.

I thought many of the combat encounters were too easy and could have been removed. I was especially disappointed with the lack of creativity in one encounter in particular

Length: Very long. When I played it we took 4.5 hours, when I GMed it took 5.5 hours. Both times the optional encounter wasn’t used. You really have to move this scenario along.
Sweet Spot: From what I can tell, this scenario plays well at all subtiers. Perhaps the 6-7 subtier is too trivial, since the encounters don't seem to be scaled well for this subtier (and it wouldn't make sense to have level 7 "thugs" as well).
Experience: Player and GM subtier 3-4.
Entertainment: Depends heavily on the GM and could be much lower. (8/10)
Roleplay: Using a fake Jamaican accent all session long can be fun. There are good opportunities to roleplay, almost every encounter. (8/10)
Combat/Challenges: Too many easy filler encounters. Lura/Xeanja can be good. (7/10)
Uniqueness: It's something different. (8/10)
Faction Missions: I liked the Osirian mission, but the rest are average. If you get lucky, you'll get Cheliax and Andoran in the same party, but that's unlikely. (7/10)
Overall: This scenario is somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, a solid 7 out of 10. (7/10)

Btw, Aram Zhey is a jerk. :)

This scenario holds much of those things I hope for. An open sandbox with lots of elements you can use, logical sidemissions and intriguing encounters. The possibility of actually screwing up if you're stupid is a reality which heightens the sense of danger.

I recommend this heartily.